Thanks. I haven't done anything like this before, so it's making me a bit nervous.

Good for you, Burrell! You'll do great. She wouldn't have asked you if she didn't trust you with it and knew you could handle it. What a compliment!

So apparently, the SO & I enjoyed our knifeskills class, because this is what I'm thinking about getting him for his birthday. I realize the Japanese thing is you can't give people knives as gifts unless you wish them death (huh, suddenly realize why there was a weird silence on the phone with my mom just now when I told her what I was thinking of getting), but they're really nice, and it's a good price, especially if I can get all the goodies with.

That's so cool, Burrell! Your teacher must know you know your stuff. Also, of course you know how to teach already.

I just asked my boss if I could leave early! I'm very excited! So I can go by my house before my massage appointment, and then to my folks'. It just makes everything seem so much more manageable.

Liese, those are *nice* knives. I have a Wusthof santoku knife that I love, although I bought it at Target (and it was priced accordingly -- more for the casual cook, rather than those gorgeous ones you're looking at).

The superstition I grew up with was that it was bad luck to give someone a knife, but okay if he paid for it. If you were giving someone a knife, you asked him for a penny first.

Ginger, I grew up with a simlar superstition, except it was also acceptable to loan someone a knife for 99 years.

omg death by expense report. but done, done done done done!

so much for leaving at noon. now I have 3 hours of vaca time for tomorrow.

Liese, those are *nice* knives.

They are, right? It's not like I know knives. I kinda want to do the best I can get, and that's the cheapest I've seen that line anywhere. The stainless handles will be nice because the desert dryness eats wood of all kinds. And our executive chef taught us that we only need two knives. So I figure put more money into a few really good knives he'll actually use.

I've almost got myself talked into this. I have an email in to the company right now finding out if I can get the mail-back holder deal which I'm supposed to get for a $150 purchase if I only spend $149.95. Or maybe I could buy one of the $5 blade guards and that would count?

But if so, and it would come with a sharpener and a cutting board, and then I could send away for the knife block or magnetic strip, that's a good deal, right?

The local newspaper is reporting that police have given a description of a suspect in several recent rapes: "The male assailant sought in three State College rape cases may be of college age, look down on women and use social influence to degrade them, borough police reported Thursday afternoon." There is no physical description in any of the public reports. This is a town with a university with about 45,000 students. How is that statement of any use at all to anybody? They're looking for a rapist, and all they can tell us is that he's probably a jackass?

Timelies all!

That's not a description, it's a profile. And not even a good one.